Sam Walton was good at what he did. One of his changes was changing the supply chain.  If he could buy batteries from your supplier for the same amount you gave for them he bypassed you and went up the supply chain.  If he could hire someone good for less and spread their cost out over more products he did it.

Sound familiar?

The down side to all this is in the quest for lowest cost and more market Wal-Mart dealt a death blow to a lot of locally owned businesses.  And it has reached the point of dealing directly with the manufacturer and even name branding goods produced exclusively for them.  It is the only entity between manufacturer and consumer.

In the process it has utilized technology not available (at least not profitably) to the "Mom and Pop" competitor.  And everyone loves technology because it increases efficiency and lowers overall cost.

Sound familiar?

Yes, I am concerned. And not just for me, but for my friends who supply me with fuel and fertilizer and seed and fix my equipment and depend on their neighbors for fire protection and ambulance and community services.

I'll pause and let you ponder on that a while.